Reform of Islam is Not Bush’s or the Pope’s business

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Interfaith Dialogue Should Focus on Man not God

The Pope Rejects Muslim Outreach

(Speech given by Ali Baghdadi at Northeastern University, Chicago, Interfaith Dialogue Day, Nov 13,2007)

TS Admin : I am glad to know of another Muslim with whom I have a commonality of thought, by and large. I had written my article The Neocons’ Greatest Sin in a similar mindset, though in a different way.

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I was invited to talk to you about Islam. After serious consideration I declined. I am the wrong person. My views about Islam are not the norm. They are controversial. A few weeks ago I received an email, an assassination threat, from an Indian Muslim who will be traveling to the United States to accomplish his “holy” mission. My co-religionist, who works for the Arab American oil company in Saudi Arabia, accused me of being a “murtad”, a renegade. He was angered by an article in which I stated that Moses, according to archeology, a science, is a myth. He actually never existed. Muslims respect Moses as a prophet. My Indian Muslim “friend”, Z. T. Minhas, an insane and a coward, has not arrived yet. The U.S. intelligence, which intercepts our electronic, particularly international mail, has not reacted. Muslims, killing one another, is consistent with U.S. policy.

I was born in Islam. Documents of old torn up paper that I inherited claim that my family descends from Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. I spent the first twenty-three years of my life in the shadow of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which according to the Quran, Islam’s holy book, Prophet Muhammad had journeyed to, and then ascended to heaven, and returned home to Mecca in Arabia, all in one night. Some influential Muslim scholars say that the journey was only a dream. Others, with the Dark Ages mentality, insist that it was physical.

For twenty-three years, without any interruption, I listened to al-Azan, the Muslim call for prayer, five times a day. Prior to starting public school at age 7, I attended a kuttab, a madrasa, a private religious school, at age 4. The elderly teacher, a sheikh, a former officer in the Ottoman army, dressed in a long black robe and a white turban, was occasionally paid with a few loaves of bread, or eggs, or a live chicken. My family couldn’t afford it. I rewarded my sheikh with a daily kiss of his hand, and a prayer, asking God to give him a comfortable and everlasting life in heaven. At age nine or ten I was able to recite most of the chapters of the Quran from memory. I studied the Quran, Islamic thought, Islamic history, Islamic culture and Arabic as language at all educational levels. I also attended lectures on political Islam given underground by some controversial scholars.

Things, however, have changed. My association with Islam throughout my adulthood has become political and not religious. I don’t go to a mosque. As you can tell, I don’t fast. I have no intention of ever performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. I suspended giving al-Zakat, charity, when Bush has designated almost all Muslim charitable organizations that aided the orphans and widows in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq, as terrorists, and forced them to close.

I am not concerned about Islam. Islam has survived all foreign invasions. Bush’s crusade will be no exception. I am, however, concerned about Muslims, as well as Christians, in the Muslim World, who are targeted by the West, particularly the United States government, which possesses the most savage and destructive war machinery in human history.

Usually, I don’t defend religion, but people. Religion is faith not science. I insist that every individual has the right to believe or not to believe. Each man or woman has the right to accept a religion or to reject it. A person has the right also to choose to be an atheist. People must be judged by their deeds, and contributions, not their faith. I stand for justice, freedom, equality, peace, and prosperity for all. I support women and gay and lesbian rights.

The question that you may ask is why I am here? What changed my mind? The answer is the Pope. Yes, the Pope.

I was greatly disturbed by the Pope, who, citing the Quran as an obstacle, rebuffed a massive outreach effort by Muslims. Coming at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, three weeks ago, a 29-page letter was sent to leaders of major Christian dominations by 138 high-level Muslim leaders and scholars, representing 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide. The letter appeals to religious tolerance, dialogue and understanding. It calls on Christian and Muslim religious leaders to work in unison for world peace, cooperation and prosperity. It emphasizes the similarities between Christianity and Islam as monotheistic religions. It speaks of the affinity between the Bible and the Quran. Both religions worship one God and call for the love of one’s neighbor.

Fortunately, the letter titled “a Common Word between Us and You”, was welcomed by various Christian leaders and institutions. It was well received by the Baptist World Alliance and the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Britain.

However, Pope Benedictine’s reaction was negative, and arrogant. It is also insulting to Christian Arabs, who are culturally Muslims. He chose to close the door to an idea which was very dear to his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who, when the Quran was presented to him, bowed and kissed it.

Benedictine’s hostility to Muslims is nothing new. In his speech in Germany, last year, he spoke of Islam as a violent and irrational religion. He quoted Emperor Manuel II of the Byzantine Empire, who said that Muhammad had brought only “evil and inhuman” things.

The office of interfaith dialogue established by John Paul II, was shut down, but later, under pressure, was reinstated.

Dr. Karen Armstrong of Oxford, a former nun, who is amongst the most renowned theologians and has written numerous bestsellers on the great religions and their founders, disagrees:

“Certainly not. There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur’an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam. The Qur’an forbids aggressive warfare and permits war only in self-defense; the moment the enemy sues for peace, the Qur’an insists that Muslims must lay down their arms and accept whatever terms are offered, even if they are disadvantageous. Later, Muslim law forbade Muslims to attack a country where Muslims were permitted to practice their faith freely; the killing of civilians was prohibited, as were the destruction of property and the use of fire in warfare.”

The Vatican says: “Muslims do not accept that one can discuss the Quran in depth, because they say it was written by dictation from God. With such an absolute interpretation, it is difficult to discuss the contents of faith.”

As a precondition for a dialogue, the Vatican demands that Muslims change their belief that the Quran is the word of God.

I say with a great certainty that the Pope’s action and conduct are not inspired by God, on whose behalf, “his holiness” speaks. It is dictated by politics, racism, ignorance and hatred. It is a part of the cruel crusade that George W. Bush, has declared against Muslims. Since his ascension to the papal throne, Benedictine, a former Hitler youth, has been putting the papacy, as well as Christianity, in the service of the U.S. empire.

Muslims are not asking for a theological dialogue. They are not trying to convince anyone that the Quran was dictated by God himself. Unlike Christians who are asking Jews to come to the Church, Muslims are not calling on Christians to come to the Mosque. Muslims are not demanding that Christians abandon the trinity and recognize Jesus only as a prophet. Though they don’t believe in the crucifixion and vindicate Jews from murdering Jesus, Muslims don’t see any reason for Christians to bring down the cross and raise up the crescent.

Muslims and non-Muslims ought to focus attention on common goals that are more important to humanity than theology, such as world peace, justice, freedom, equality, love, understanding, respect for one another, tolerance, cooperation, as well as mother earth and the environment.

In Muslim lands, Muslims, Christians and Jews have lived as neighbors for almost fifteen hundred years. They didn’t dialogue. They didn’t debate. They lived in peace and tranquility. The fact that Christianity and Judaism continued to exist alongside Muslims, who were and still are the majority, speaks of Muslim tolerance. The fact that Jews throughout the centuries fled Christian lands and took refuge in Muslim countries, demonstrates, beyond a doubt, Muslims’ respect of non-Muslims’ beliefs.

I do admit that the reform of Islam is urgently needed. But this is not the business of Jews or Christians. It is a Muslim problem. It requires a Muslim solution. It must be addressed and dealt with as a Muslim concern. Christians and Jews have their own enormous problems to acknowledge and resolve.

George W. Bush has been pushing for a new Islam that welcomes occupiers as liberators and labels oppression as democracy. He is promoting an Islam that requires his adherents to turn the other cheek to U.S. and Israeli soldiers, who are ordered to kill, maim, torture, burn, and destroy. He has been working hard to restrict Islam to spirituality, only to issues that deal with God but not man. No jihad! Jihad is not suicide, which is a great sin in Islam, but a struggle against injustice, oppression, occupation and aggression. Jihad is a legitimate resistance to daily murder of men, women and children. Bush’s Islam calls on Muslims to capitulate, kneel down in submission, not the Lord of the Universe, but to the satanic” god” who resides in the White House. Muslims’ answer came clear, brief and swift, “hell, no.”

Hitler, who proclaimed himself a “Christian” and a fighter for “his Lord and Savior”, didn’t claim to have spoken to God. George W. Bush did.

“God told me to strike at Al-Qaeda and I struck them. And then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did. And now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.”

However, God warned Bush, “This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile.” Here, Bush’s destructive god is right. “The mother of all battles” will continue until all foreign troops return home.

His “obedience” to his killer god has resulted in the murder of over a million Iraqis. Iraqi death due to war and economic sanctions are three and a half million. Iraqi orphans number five million and widows are three million. Six million people fled Iraq or were displaced. Museums, libraries and educational institutions were bombed and ransacked. Their contents were stolen or burned. Thousands of scholars and scientists were assassinated. Seven thousand years of human civilization is leveled to the ground. The only ministry building that was left standing is the Ministry of Oil. What a coincidence!

What about Western achievements the Pope attempts to protect? The Church cannot take credit for the awakening, enlightenment, progress, and freedoms men and women enjoy in the West today. On the contrary, the Church resisted and continues to resist reform and change until this very moment.

Muslim leaders who enjoy the support and blessing of the United States are the obstacle for social change and development. The Saudi dynasty continues to forbid women from driving, and deny Saudi citizens the right to vote.

However, Islamic reform is taking place slowly but steadily. Polygamy was outlawed in Tunisia. Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, a former head of the Sudanese National Assembly, one of the most influential thinkers that I had the honor to meet several times, issued a fatwa, a religious ruling, which gives the right to Muslim females to marry non-Muslims, and for women to lead Muslim prayers.

Revolutionary change is taking place in Iran, U.S. enemy number one. A divorced woman has the property right to a half of the wealth her husband amassed while being married. Sex change is legal. The surgery is paid for by the state.

I must remind you that four Muslim countries, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia had women as heads of state.

I regret that the Pope’s stand has forced me to end my public silence on issues pertaining to religion, and make comparison between faiths.

The Pope wants Muslims to tailor Islam to fit Judeo-Christians values. However, in terms of peace, universal brotherhood, equality, freedom, logic and simplicity, Islam is far more rational and progressive than Christianity and Judaism. No Vatican. No sainthood. No priesthood. No present day miracles. No spiritual healing of the sick. Those who may claim to have the power of healing, end in a mental institution or a jail. The Old Testament, an integral part of the Bible, as described by Christian and Jewish researchers and historians, is blood and sex. The God of Israel, Jehovah, orders his “Chosen People”, to destroy burn, kill, enslave, and rape virgins of the goyem, non-Jews.

Furthermore, Islam’s religious affairs are not a hierarchy for clerics. Islamic affairs are not confined to graduates from al-Azhar University or other Islamic institutions. As a matter of fact, the greatest Muslim scholars are intellectuals, such as writers, physicians, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals.

According to an interpretation the Old Testament, Noah’s three sons were the founders of the populations of the three known continents, Japheth/Europe, Shem/Asia, and Ham/Africa. Ham’s children had been “blackened” by sin and a curse. Ham made fun of his lying down, drunk and naked father. Noah’s two other sons who covered him were blessed. Their descendents were not black.

In Islam black is not a curse, but a beautiful color in the rainbow of the human race. Muhammad declared that all men are equal. The Quran says, “O mankind! We (God) created ye from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made ye into nations and tribes, that ye may know one another, (not that ye may despise each other). Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of God is he who is the most Righteous of you.” Chapter 49, verse 13.

Islam has no confession and no intermediary. A man, a woman or a child has direct and private line of communication with God, free of charge, anytime and anywhere. In the Quran, God stresses that He is close to all. He responds if he is called.

In Islam, no one represents God on earth. No one is infallible. Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and all prophets are not divine, but humans.

All efforts and promises for a better life made by the Vatican and other Christian groups to convince Muslims throughout the world to convert have failed. What disturbs Christian missionaries is the fact that Islam today is the fastest growing religion. According to the Seattle Times, Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group. Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she’s ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she’s also been a Muslim.

To multiply the number of his constituents, Benedictine, in his visit to Latin America, last year, demanded from its poverty stricken natives not to use condoms. When it comes to sex, what or how, in the privacy of their bedroom, has always been the job of a married couple, not Muslim clergy.

The Quran reveres Bible prophets, not insults them. The Old Testament presents Abraham as a pimp. He gave his wife Sarah to the Pharaoh to sleep with and enjoy. In return, the Pharaoh granted him slaves, cattle, silver and gold. Abraham repeated the same trade with one of the kings of Jordan. What a bargain.

Read the Bible. I can go on and on and on.

Religion, particularly Judaism and Christianity which were written with fire and blood, have brought more evil and less good to humanity throughout history. Interfaith dialogue should not debate theology. It should work to end death, destruction and misery. Dialogue should concentrate on building bridges of good will and coexistence. It should put less emphasis on God and more on fellow man.

Muslims are condemned for their rejection to Western values. The question is why should they? They have their own values that were developed over seven thousand years of civilization. The decision to drop the two atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki took, according to President Truman, a snap of a finger. Non-whites’ life is worthless. A couple of weeks ago, in Israel, actually occupied Palestine, a young woman was savagely beaten by five of her fellow students of the Torah, because she refused to move to the back of the bus. Muslim men promptly evacuate their seats for women, anytime and anywhere. Muhammad assured his followers that Paradise is underneath the feet of mothers and entry is allowed only by their blessings and approval. Those values should remain.

Islamofascism, a new word coined by Norman Podhoretz, a former editor of Commentary Jewish magazine, the home of the neoconservatives. Bush loves the new word and sings it like a puppet, to drum up American support against Muslims, and to wage a new Zionist-white supremacist war against Iran, which insists on using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The October 22nd to 26th Islamofascism Awareness Week organized by the Jewish lobby and the neo conservatives, on 100 campuses, turned out to be a great disaster. Students protested and heckled the speakers. David Horowitz, author of Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left, who received more than $15 million in handouts from ultra conservative foundations, was forced to flee. In the sixties, he was a Marxist and a member of the new left. His Jewish parents were long-standing members of the Communist Party. Horowitz later discovered that leftism doesn’t pay. The Zionist propagandist describes so-called Islam as the moral and historical equivalent of Nazism. Margaret Kimberley, a writer and a senior columnist, together with a group of influential anti-fascist activists, are calling for a counter-event: “Christian/Jewish Fascism Awareness Week.”

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Islam has replaced communism as an imaginary enemy, and thus justified the astronomical military spending in service of big business. It does not take a nuclear or a space scientist to conclude that the 911 tragedy was a home-made conspiracy. It is naïve to believe that a man with a turban on his head and a cane in his hand hiding eleven thousand miles away in the caves of Tora Boro is responsible for such an almost impossible mission. 51% of the American people question the official story. Evidence points a finger at Bush, Cheney, their lieutenants, the Israeli Mossad and certain segments in U.S. intelligence. We must demand the creation of an independent commission of scholars, scientists, engineers, and experts on demolition and intelligence to find the truth and bring the criminals to justice.

The watch list of suspected terrorists, compiled by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has swelled to over 755,000. Certainly, if you oppose war and stand against genocide, regardless of your religion, or nationality, you can be sure that you are on this list. Ironically, it mainly contains scholars, academics, writers, journalists, artists, and anti-war activists.

What about Islamic “radicalism”?

Fifty years ago, in most Arab countries, one could seldom see a Muslim girl or a woman covering her hair. Today, one can rarely encounter a Muslim female without a headscarf. I must admit, all are beautiful, with or without a cover. However, I do hate the burqa, a veil, which covers the face. It is not a religious requirement. Those who impose it, as well as the women who accept it, bring shame and disgrace to the overwhelming majority of Muslims.

Muslims females wear the scarf mostly by choice. It is mainly a sign of political protest. It is a rejection to Western values, Western culture, Western domination, Western hypocrisy and Western occupation. It is a stand against theft of resources, ethnic cleansing, and genocide to which Muslims are subjected.

Muhammad said, “If you see evil, your duty is to stop it by your hand. If you cannot, you must oppose it by your mouth. But if you cannot, you should undo it in your heart.” In Muslim lands, Muslim fighters oppose U.S. and Israeli tanks and bombers with gun, and sometimes by an explosive belt. In the Quran, God says, “Think not that those who fall while resisting aggression will ever die. They are alive, in the company of their Lord.” Muslims believe that that is the highest form of martyrdom and the greatest honor.

Finally, I have been a U.S. citizen for over forty years. My country of origin, Palestine, is occupied, and my country men, women and children are killed daily. The United States has become my second home. I am grateful. Two of my children served in the U.S. military. Both took the oath to defend their country. Both were honorably discharged.

Regardless of my convictions and beliefs, Islam has formed my identity. It remains a source of my personal behavior and conduct. I will not abandon my heritage, my culture, my roots, or my people. The F.B.I. visited me twice, a year ago. I refuse to be intimidated. As long as the crusade against Muslims continues, as long as there is war on earth, and as long as there is hunger and disease, the least I must do is to not be in the silent majority.

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Comments

7 Responses to “Reform of Islam is Not Bush’s or the Pope’s business”

  1. Tom Edgar on November 17th, 2007 10:56 am

    I freely admit I cannot understand why anybody believes in the existence of God(s)or why they “Belong” to a religion. Albeit I was married to a Quaker for forty six years. They, at least, allow their members to believe or disbelieve any or all of the Bible. Some of their philosophy has rubbed off and I am, now, a little more tolerant of religious people.(just a little) However this article, which I read from beginning to end was so sensible and so true it should be compulsory in all schools and to all those of religious persuasions or of none. It could just be what is needed to give understanding to the “Problem.” between Faiths.

    It still doesn’t solve the problem of the exremists from Islam or Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity. All use their Religion to justify
    doing to others what they themselves would abjure.

    Don’t ask me for the answer. I would say get rid of the Religions but that wouldn’t get rid of the exremists, only remove their justification.

    Tom Edgar Australia.
    tomedgar@halenet.com.au

  2. Jonathan Stephenson on November 17th, 2007 11:32 am

    I first must comment on 2 areas you spoke of about the Bible which are not terribly important, but will be used by some to say you are slandering Christianity. Certain sects of Christianity believe that the Mark of Cain, that God put on him according to scripture meant that he was black, and rascist have used that for years to persecute black people, it was not Ham that this was based on, second Abraham did not “pimp” his wife, but asked her to tell Pharaoh she was his sister, so he would not kill Abraham on her behalf, the same with the king of Bashan I believe, but this is not important.
    What is important is that the Pope does not speak for all Christians, nor even for a majority of Catholics, he speaks for those who are Fundamentalists in faith, and in fact to me the problems of interfaith relations and many of all of our many religions problems is Fundamentalism!
    A fundamentalist is convinced to such an extent, that they are right in their view of reality, that they often disagree with the very tenets of their own religions, this is surely the case with the “Christian Right” a grouping of groups that practices their faith in antithesis to what is taught by Jesus Christ.
    When one speaks about the Old Testament in relation to Christian Thought, it must be understood that the reason the Old Testament is included in the Christian Bible is to show Christians how they were freed from a law based on works, to a law based on faith in God, so to claim that the actions in the Old Testament of the Bible are still Christian in action and spirit is misleading and wrong. This simple idea is what has allowed perverted men like Bush and Robertson to twist the minds of ignorant men to hate and commit abominable acts.
    Christ Jesus taught his disciples in the Gospel of Luke I believe, but may be wrong about which Gospel, that he who is not against you is for you; when confronted by his disciples about whether to stop a man from teaching who was not following after them.” This is a clear message to judge a man by his heart and actions, rather than the name he goes by. I have read the Bible many times, and most of The Quran and I was struck by the similarities much more than the differences. A man of God, is a man of God, his title will not save him at the judgement, and if he has done evil using his faith he will pay the consequences of that, be he a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddist, a Native American Religion or so many other belief systems based on love. I admit that the Bible has been the most misused book ever, and that it’s message of loving your fellow man, your neighbor, is a message you just don’t hear much in most churches any more, which is why I have for the most part stopped attending church services.
    This Pope has been more than a disappointment after Pope John Paul II, he has been a disaster! As you pointed out he is a fascist and has allied himself with fascists. He will not escape his punishment I believe, for by his actions he opposes the Holy Spirit of God, the spirit of love that is in all men(women) who belong to God.
    In closing I feel sorry my friend that these evil men have embittered people of faith in God, how ever they practice their faith, from being one, which means the 1, ONE, thing we must not allow is for the haters to win, love and righteousness will prevail and the divisions will be healed if we don’t give up our faith in doing right, doing as both Jesus and Mohammad taught and loving and helping and forgiving. We in the west have if anything a much greater problem than those in the Middle East, or any other part of the world, both because of the chauvenism that we have in the west as being superior culturally than any other people, and that we have also been co-opted by anti-christs and we are in the fight of our lives against these evil ones. We really need your prayers, so that those of God in truth, may defeat these evil men, the entire world depends upon it, for their desire is conquest and death or slavery to all. May God help us all!

  3. Tahir on November 17th, 2007 12:48 pm

    Certainly, heartfelt views of a pure human; free of any religious confinements or prejudice. Indeed the message of all the religions,HUMANITY, has been beautifully highlighted by the writer while defending his faith. May we hope that enlightened masses of West would rise against this latest trend of religious intolerance and bias toward muslims

  4. Masroor ul Hassan on November 17th, 2007 3:54 pm

    Anwaar Hussein,

    Thank you for reproducing Ali Baghdadi’s speech.

    Ali Baghdadi has definitely made his point. He developed a chain of logical argument highlighting why is he not prepared to deny the divinity of any religion specially his own, Islam. He says about Islam,”It remains a source of my personal behavior and conduct. I will not abandon my heritage, my culture, my roots, or my people”. Reading through his speech one has to acknowledge his vast knowledge on the subject. He quoted Mohammad (PBUH) several occasions, cited Bible and mentioned Old Testament to make his argument credible. He clearly seems to believe in God.

    I, however, was at a loss to understand why did he have to mention that he did not practice any of the rituals (ibadaat) common Muslims do. Secondly, the mention of the archeological find proving Moses to be be a myth also escaped my limited comprehension.

    Interfaith dialogue with a view to create interfaith harmony would be best served if the proponent disregards personal practices, whether his own or others’. He amply highlighted the main reason for the so called ‘clash of civilizations (read Religions)’ by citing Mr. Bush, Pope Benedictine and new born concept of Islamofascism.

    His entire speech focused on the basic and easily understandable logic. But, in my opinion, he should have also touched on the philosophical aspect. Philosophically speaking, how would it matter whether Moses existed or Mr. Baghdadi had no intentions of making a Pilgrimage to Makkah? The fact that over 80% of homo sapiens, considering entire Chinese population is atheist, support certain faith (read religion) only points to the inevitability of holding dear a certain faith for reasons of best know to beholder.

    True faith breeds peace within which then radiates outside moulding the behaviour of beholder. Peace within means peace without. Basic concepts of Islam and for that matter any religion are undisputed. A believer of any religion, therefore, will promote peace not aggression unless absolutely required only to ward off evil.

    Like yoga needs meditation and certain organised physical activity, all faiths also require some rituals, called ‘ibaadaat’ in Arabic to be practiced. As long as these rituals do not infringe upon the feelings and practices of others, they promise to strengthen interfaith harmony.

    I shall ask Dr. Baghdadi to try those rituals which come natural with his ‘heritage, culture, roots, and people’. I assure him more of peace within.

    Best Regards,
    Masroor

  5. Michelle on November 17th, 2007 6:44 pm

    I’ll probably get a lot of flack for the following, but here goes:

    One can argue for validation of any religion but I have come to adopt the motto: God Save Us From Religion!!! I wonder when the people of Earth will be brave enough to begin to question the origins of the great major faiths of our planet? Does not anyone here ever wonder why and how the worship of the Divine Mother was eliminated from the original beliefs of the indigenous people of the Earth? And I do mean original Earth inhabitants….humans. Please note that I am not downplaying or denying the existence of the male counterpart of the Creator Force. If one believes we were created in the image of God, then surely, women weren’t an after thought! Does not anyone here entertain the thoughts that religions were developed to corrupt the spirituality of the indigenous people of the Earth; that religions are employed as a powerful means of controlling people; that perhaps different religions were set up with doctrines in direct opposition to one another in order to breed disharmony, distrust, confusion, war and arrogance?

    I don’t care how you sugarcoat any faith, if you look close enough you will find that, through religion, the “sons of God” abused and horribly mistreated the indigenous women of the Earth to set the example of a misogynistic model for the indigenous men of the Earth to follow. In the early days of our beginning here on Earth, women were revered by the males because earthlings’ spirituality still retained closeness to the Divine Mother. So just when and why was it twisted to make it appear that women were a gender that could not be trusted and that they must be oppressed by the males? Male chauvinism has caused women to be subjugated to men and treated as their “footstools” in many cultures including the Arab, Asian, Jewish and Western societies.

    How, when, and why was it implanted into our culture for a fraction of men [AS SEEN IN OUR LEADERS] to be biological beings with abounding pride, arrogance, uncontrollable urges for adult and child sex partners [whether they be willing or forced participants], with a great appetite for conquest and control. This warlike RACE [skin color or country of birth is insignificant] has an insatiable thirst for control of other beings and dominion over other races, and the less privileged classes. They have developed and imposed complex, oppressive cast and gender systems. Who was it that promoted very expensive tastes that would force people into economic slavery? Who was it that introduced polygamy, incest and paedophilia? Such traits are noted in various cultures, including the ancient Egyptian royalty and the patriarchs of the Old Testament.

    In many senses, we in this technologically advanced age, are slaves to the modern commodities, governments, economic systems, cultures, religions, customs, and etc. But most importantly we are slaves to this Virtual Reality, blinded by its subtleties and falsehoods and its simulation of the Divine Realms laid out so thoroughly, map on how to get there included, within confusing doctrines. So, who created these methods of control….and please don’t answer me with the childish response, “Satan.”

    If you cannot entertain the notion that religions were created, I offer the following on Christianity; those of other faiths can begin connecting the dots from there:

    Just what is Christianity?
    The important question then to ask is this: if the New Testament is not historical, what is it?
    Dr Tischendorf provided part of the answer when he said in his 15,000 pages of critical notes on the Sinai Bible that “it seems that the personage of Jesus Christ was made narrator for many religions”. This explains how narratives from the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, appear verbatim in the Gospels today (e.g., Matt. 1:25, 2:11, 8:1-4, 9:1-8, 9:18-26), and why passages from the Phenomena of the Greek statesman Aratus of Sicyon (271-213 BC) are in the New Testament.
    Extracts from the Hymn to Zeus, written by Greek philosopher Cleanthes (c. 331-232 BC), are also found in the Gospels, as are 207 words from the Thais of Menander (c. 343-291), one of the “seven wise men” of Greece. Quotes from the semi-legendary Greek poet Epimenides (7th or 6th century BC) are applied to the lips of Jesus Christ, and seven passages from the curious Ode of Jupiter (c. 150 BC; author unknown) are reprinted in the New Testament.
    Tischendorf’s conclusion also supports Professor Bordeaux’s Vatican findings that reveal the allegory of Jesus Christ derived from the fable of Mithra, the divine son of God (Ahura Mazda) and messiah of the first kings of the Persian Empire around 400 BC. His birth in a grotto was attended by magi who followed a star from the East. They brought “gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (as in Matt. 2:11) and the newborn baby was adored by shepherds. He came into the world wearing the Mithraic cap, which popes imitated in various designs until well into the 15th century.
    Mithra, one of a trinity, stood on a rock, the emblem of the foundation of his religion, and was anointed with honey. After a last supper with Helios and 11 other companions, Mithra was crucified on a cross, bound in linen, placed in a rock tomb and rose on the third day or around 25 March (the full moon at the spring equinox, a time now called Easter after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar). The fiery destruction of the universe was a major doctrine of Mithraism-a time in which Mithra promised to return in person to Earth and save deserving souls. Devotees of Mithra partook in a sacred communion banquet of bread and wine, a ceremony that paralleled the Christian Eucharist and preceded it by more than four centuries.
    Christianity is an adaptation of Mithraism welded with the Druidic principles of the Culdees, some Egyptian elements (the pre-Christian Book of Revelation was originally called The Mysteries of Osiris and Isis), Greek philosophy and various aspects of Hinduism.
    Source: http://www.nexusmagazine.com/a.....ament.html

    On more thing: There are some scary happenings within the United States’ military….again, religion used to direct and control the masses…in a very lethal sense:
    The Evangelical Christian Takeover of the Military
    By David Antoon
    Posted on November 16, 2007
    CLIPS:
    Never, during my four years at the academy and subsequent pilot and combat training, was the word warrior used; nor, whether as a cadet or officer, did I ever encounter “Christian supremacist” rhetoric.

    I no longer recognize the Air Force Academy as the institution I attended almost four decades earlier. At that point, I had no idea how invasive this extreme evangelical “cancer” had become throughout the entire military, that what I had witnessed was far from an isolated case of a few religious zealots.

    In the following weeks, a uniformed Army Maj. Gen. William Boykin began sharing his Christian supremacist views from church pulpits around the country, declaring that he was “God’s Warrior” and that “America is a Christian nation.” He demeaned the entire Muslim world by stating that his God was bigger than a Muslim warlord’s god and that the Muslim’s god “was an idol.” He received little more than a token slap on the wrist. At the time, Joseph Schmitz, then the Department of Defense inspector general (Schmitz is currently the chief operating officer of Blackwater International), found that Boykin had committed no ethics violations.
    GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/2dkavd

  6. Rowan on November 17th, 2007 8:15 pm

    First, thanks to Anwaar for sharing this excellent speech.

    People will have their faiths - it is integrated into cultures and into many people’s lives. Even the non-religious in any society are going to have some basis in the dominant faith of their society. One does not have to be a believer to be shaped in some way by religion.

    What is maddening to me is the ongoing use of religion to advance power. Consistently the world has seem conflict and conquest cloaked in the robes of religion. Then the conflict and conquest is framed as a “religious” conflict. Examples include The Crusades, the Protestant-Catholic divide in Ireland, Bosnia, and the current “turmoil” in the Middle East framed as a conflict of civilizations. The issues are struggles for power and resources which some choose to frame, legitimate, and recruit using religion as bait.

    While I agree that finding commonality is a path to peace, I have problems with the premise that these conflicts are religiously based. I do believe that it is critical that people be aware when their faith is being bent to another’s cause. Hopefully this then allows people to organize against the manipulation and build together a better way.

  7. Shawna on November 20th, 2007 4:21 am

    I have rejected the idea of organized religion. Every one of them has added fundamentalistic ideals to their doctrines. And most now combine politics with their teachings.

    The information above of the writings in the Bible and their originations is really quite fascinating.

    I don’t believe God created the world to see any part of it be abused, or mistreated. This includes women, children and the earth itself. All creation stories lead to the concept that humans were to be the keepers of the garden, so to speak. If one ‘keeps’ the garden, one does not destroy or damage it. Woman, or man, was to be a helpmate or partner. Not one above the other, but equals with a vital part in keeping the garden whole.
    Greed, lust for power, and an acquired unnatural intelligence allowed for the belief that the earth must conquered, including all life forms and controlled by only one life form, humans. We are all reaping the consequences of the discord that has been sown for centuries.

    While I am not sure about the interpretations of Moses, Abraham or Noah (notice that this continent is not included in any of those teachings, as if it never existed), I do believe that there is a force around this planet greater than me. My faith gives me a reason to keep moving forward, looking for a better way to live and hope for my children.

    Every where around me is falling apart. The nation that was supposed to be the safest on earth is now divided against itself and will inevitably collapse like all other empires that also became too powerful. I believe that when the US economy falls, so will all other world economies. So much of it is tied together. Global warming warnings have not made any impact on the rate of consumption or destruction of the planet. An inevitable global catastrophe comprised of multiple ‘natural disasters’ is in the future, maybe my future. Mass extinctions are already taking place. It is hard to know which path to take that will make the greatest positive impact on the whole.

    Now we must bind together as a community that tolerates all differences in order to survive. When it happens, and it will happen, all the differing opinions, interpretations and beliefs will be of little value. Maybe then we will find each other as equals, struggling to find survival in the most holistic manner possible. Maybe then we will see that all of life has the right to exist in its own way.

    Where does ‘religion’ as we know it, fit into all of this? All it has done is divide the people into groups that despise and spar with each other.

    It is time to find a more sustainable way to live, including our interaction with the natural world/human species.

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Anwaar’s articles appear simultaneously here at Truth Spring and at Soul Vibes in The Pakistan Tribune.


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